Mining at Kolar gold fields to resume in April next year SEETHALAKSHMI S, TNN | Nov 24, 2013, 12.54AM IST Kolar Million tons of Tail dumps that are lying in the Kolar gold fields. There are 35 millions tons of such dumps and each ton is expected to have one gram of gold. (TOI Photo by K Sunil Prasad) The irony is hard to escape. The residents of Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) town have to travel nearly 100 km every day to earn a living even though their homes practically sit over the worlds largest and deepest Gold mines. The 133-year-old KGF, 110 km from Bangalore, has nearly 200 tons (worth around Rs 60,000 crore at current rate) of the precious metal left in its depths. Bharat Gold Mines Limited (BGML) had shut operations in March 2001 following the recommendation of the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR). The government believed that it was not economically feasible to continue the extraction. The closure of the mines left 3,000 jobless and turned KGF into a ghost town, dotted by vast expanses of mining waste. But all that is set to change. In July this year a Supreme Court bench allowed the Centre to float a global tender to revive the mines. Some of the largest gold mining companies from Australia, South Africa, Canada and the United Kingdom are expected to participate in the bid next month. Sources say that the tender will be floated next week and kept open for the next three months. By February, 2014 the final decision will be in and by April, the mines should be ready to roll again. The man who fought the legal battle for 12 long years to ensure that the mines are revived is relieved. It has not been an easy journey. There were 3,000 miners and their families who were dependent on the outcome of this struggle. But I was convinced that KGFs glory can be revived, says K M Divakaran, president of the BGML Employees Supervisors and Officers United Forum. The town which had produced 800 tons of gold ever since John Taylor and Company, which had bought the licence to mine there in 1880, looks desolate now. The 12,500-acre expanse of the gold fields is strewn with more than 35 million tons of mill tailings (dumps of mining waste) which contain residual gold left over from the earlier extraction. In the midst of this wasteland, many families are dreaming of the day that gold fields will come alive once again. A lot of ex-BGML workers are now employed as security guards, electricians and mechanics in Bangalore. The KGF-Bangalore train is full of passengers bound for Whitefield, KR Puram, Malur and Bangalore as it leaves the gold town every morning. For 25 years of his youth, Antaraj, now 53, had ferreted out gold at Gifford Shaft every single day. Now, he holds a job as a security guard at the mines and looks forward to the day the fields will start buzzing again with the sounds of extraction. I am too old to rejoin work. I have told my son to join the mines. This place gave me life. How can my family work elsewhere? he asks. Despite the desolation, the mood in Kolar is upbeat today. Even the youngsters here are eager for the mines to reopen. Ilayaraja, 25, an engineering diploma holder who commutes to Bangalore every day for work, says his father and grandfather were both miners. I want to quit my job and join BGML in April 2014. After all, how many people get to work in gold mines in India? he says. There are some here who joined the mines when the British still ran the show (the government took charge only in 1956). I would go underground at 7 am and get out at 2 pm. It was heartbreaking to see KGF sink. The town which was full of life is dead today, says 83-year-old R Sukin, who works as a security guard at the KGF club. Smith Road that once housed all the top British officers stands beautiful with tall trees on both sides. On the other side are the row houses where ex-BGML employees live. It is remarkable that many workers hung on to the hope that the mines would open some day. I had job offers from various mine companies. But I decided to stay back and fight for reopening the mines. It would have been selfish to KGF to look for another job, says Sadananda Heggade, who held a senior position in BGML. As someone who managed and supervised thousands of workers (each shift in the day had 1,800 persons working in various shafts), Heggade recalls instances where he had to guard against gold smuggling. There were times when I had to do late night inspections. Its tempting to get the gold in your hand and not take it home, he says. The one thing that helped the workers through their darkest days was the housing that had been provided to them. We at least have a roof above our heads. But how can so much gold and poverty live side by side? asks 76-year-old Obaiah, a former employee. 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